DEMINT: Well, we're not going to have bipartisanship as long as the
Democrats are moving towards just more spending and debt. Listen, when
the president came into office, the Democrats had controlled Congress
for two years. Presidents don't write policy and spend money. The
Congress does.

The Democrat Congress had taken us in the wrong direction. And the
first year of the Obama's presidency, he created more debt than George
Bush did in eight years.

So we've got to get rid of this inheritance idea. The president and
the Democrats need to take some responsibility.

The Republicans want to work with the Democrats on improving health
care, focusing on jobs. There are a number of other priorities. But
for this first year, the president really believed that he could
steamroll the Republicans, not even have us in the same room, and in the
process, he was steamrolling the American people, not listening to what
they were saying.

That's where the anger comes from. People feel like the president,
the Democrats, and even some Republicans have not been listening to him.

People are sick of politics. They're sick of both parties in a lot
of ways. I've been proud that the Republicans have been coming together
to try to stop the spending and debt. And now what we need to do is
work together.

And hopefully, the president will stop this effort to take over our
health care system, refocus on jobs, and look at ways to get the economy
going, rather than just expand the government.

MORAN: All right. You're all in the same room now, not literally,
but in the Senate, but with the 41 Republican votes. But let me -- let
me shift gears. I want to ask you about this landmark Supreme Court
decision that came down this week, the Supreme Court this week saying
that the campaign finance reform ban on corporations and unions spending
their general funds to advertise directly in favor or against individual
candidates, that's a violation of free speech. That's going to help
Republicans. What -- what do you think?

MENENDEZ: Well, the big losers are the average American citizen.
This is going to put enormous amounts of money and influence on behalf
of big oil, health insurance companies, big banks, that are going to
obviously support candidates who support their point of views.

That means, will Republicans join us on regulatory reform so we
don't have the excesses of Wall Street that they permitted? Are they
going to join us to make sure that health insurance companies don't
arbitrarily and capriciously deny people their health insurance that
they have, even when they need it the most?

So this is a David and Goliath situation. And the reality is that
the average citizen is going to get steamrolled, and that's why we're
going to seek to legislatively respond to it.

MORAN: You're going to try and reform this through legislation?

MENENDEZ: We are going to try to make sure...

MORAN: It's a First Amendment decision. It's going to be hard to do.

MENENDEZ: Well, it's a First Amendment decision, but there are a
lot of elements on disclosure and otherwise that can, I think, curtail
this. And I hope that the Republicans -- this was a reform effort 20
years ago when it was instituted. John McCain, McCain-Feingold a big
part of this. I hope that Republicans are going to join us hand in hand
to make sure that the special interests don't roll over the little guy.